


Ahead of the Curve

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, First Crush, First Love, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fourth Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 06:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1595210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione always prided herself on not getting swept away like other witches her age swooning over boys.  And then she finds one she wouldn't mind swooning over herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ahead of the Curve

Hermione Granger knew she was the brightest witch of her age. Besides the fact that no one was particularly shy in telling her his fact repeatedly and with fervor, it hadn’t taken her more than about a minute to realize she lacked the most typical hang-up most witches her age seemed to face: an unwavering and distracting need to find themselves a wizard.

  
It wasn’t as if she was against the idea of a boyfriend. It was more that it wasn’t her first and sometimes only goal that made her feel a bit ahead of the curve. She watched other Gryffindor girls giggle and swoon whenever Harry walked past and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Besides the fact that they were too good of friends for her to even consider looking at him that way, she only had to remember the week before when he’d skipped Astronomy to finish a game of Wizard Chess with Ron to realize what she wanted in a partner was a certain level of maturity boys her age seemed universally to be lacking.  
She, unlike her tittering cohorts, was content to wait until the right person came along.

  
And then, in her fourth year, she met him.

  
Nothing could have prepared her for Victor Krum. At first, when he started showing up in the library every afternoon around when she was trying to study, the only thing she felt was a rage inducing sense of annoyance at his very presence being in her vicinity. It wasn’t so much Krum himself that annoyed her – he mainly sat quietly by himself at a table and looked over texts – but the constant stream of never-ending fans following after him and giggling while they tried to work up the nerve to ask for an autograph or a picture. Madame Pince was constantly beside herself trying to keep the noise level down for any students actually attempting to get work done, usually breaking down into a fit of shaking when she realized that the only person there besides Krum actually trying to read was Hermione.  
After a while, even Hermione fled the library trying to get away from the constant squealing.

  
After a little bit, she settled upon spending her study time on the grounds in an alcove with benches by the greenhouses. It was reasonably quite for being outdoors as only classes and other students specifically looking for quiet out in the sunshine ever really came to that corner of the lawns, and Hermione soon set up shop finishing up her school work there. It was about a week before she heard the shrill giggled again and knew what that must mean. Krum, she saw upon looking up, had relocated.

  
It was just her luck that he’d decided to camp out under a tree less than ten feet from where she was trying to study. Hoping it was an off chance decision of the Quidditch star’s to rest outdoors for a change, Hermione returned to her spot the next day hoping to get some work done. At first, everything seemed right with the world again. No one giggled, tittered, or swooned anywhere near her as she finished her Herbology essay.

  
But just as she was packing up to leave, she heard a chorus of calls and chanting that could only mean Krum was somewhere nearby. Gathering up her things to leave, she whipped around the corner without looking where she as going and collided with something large and solid just on the other side of it, her back falling to the ground and spilling its contents everywhere. She grumbled slightly as she gathered her things, looking up to see what she’d collided with. A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach when she realized it wasn’t a what, but a whom.

  
And that who had been, just to her luck, Victor Krum himself.

  
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” One of the girls following behind him snapped at Hermione, her friends snapping similar statements. To Hermione’s surprise, Krum turned to shoot them a nasty look that immediately silenced them before kneeling down to help her gather up her things.

  
“You don’t have to do that, really.” She said, unsure why it suddenly felt harder to breathe with him so close by.

  
“No, it vas my mistake.” He said with a shake of his head, persisting in helping her corral all her spilled parchemt and quills. Once everything was back where it should be, he stood and offered her his hand. “Let me help you up.”

  
“I’m alright, really.” She said, pointedly ignoring his help as she clambered to her feet feeling slightly red in the face. “Thank you though.”

  
“It was no trouble.” He said, nodding his head towards her politely before turning and walking away. It wasn’t until he was out of sight that she realized he hadn’t brought a book with him today, and that he seemed to be heading back to his ship. A strange idea pricked at the back of her mind that she intended to test as soon as possible.

  
Over the next few days, Hermione rarely studied in the same place twice. And every single day, like clockwork, Krum found her. Sometimes it wasn’t until she was packing up to leave having already dawdled longer than necessary to see if he would come. Never the less, each day he found her, and when they made eye contact her heart contracted slightly as if a pressure had been taken briefly off of it before being pressed back down again at a different angle.

  
And then one day, he didn’t show. Hermione waited until the last possible second to head off for her Muggle Studies class, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  
Just as she was exiting the library, she heard a very familiar set of footfalls to her left, her heart seizing up as Victor turned the corner and came into view. Today he looked particularly determined, his face set as he strode purposefully towards her.

  
“Can I have a vord?” He asked, glancing back over his shoulder as if expecting someone to be following him. She hesitated for a moment, knowing if she didn’t hurry she’d be late for her first ever class. But as she looked up into his dark eyes, she found herself nodding instead of making an excuse. Taking her hand he led her down the hall into an empty classroom, quickly rushing the both of them inside and shutting the door. “My apologies. I’m trying to escape my fan club.”

  
“It must be difficult to read with them tittering around you all the time.” She said, wincing slightly when she realized belatedly how catty that sounded. He looked up at her in amusement, the sly smile on his face doing nothing to steady her already fraying nerves.

  
“I wasn’t actually reading. I vas trying to get a chance to talk to you, but you alvays seemed so busy.” Krum said, blushing slightly when Hermione raised an eyebrow in his direction. “It’s true.”

  
“And now that you’ve gotten me alone to talk to me?” She hoped her voice wasn’t shaking. It was taking everything she had to sound braver than she felt. Suddenly, she felt like she was beginning to understand the preoccupations of witches her age for the first time, and to her astonishment didn’t seem to mind.

  
‘I vas vondering if I could spend more time with you, so ve can get to know each other?”

  
“I think I’d like that very much, actually.”


End file.
